Twinkies Almost Turned Out Completely Different From What We Know Today
Sometimes you can't help but wonder what today would look like if things had shaken out a little differently in the past. What would have happened if Gavrilo Princip hadn't assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, setting World War I (and the rest of the 20th century) into motion? How would the past 25 years have transpired if Al Gore got a few hundred more votes in Florida in the 2000 presidential election? And where would we be as a society if Twinkies still tasted like banana? That's right! The cream-filled snack cake we know and love was once a bona fide banana creme treat. If you're wondering why they don't taste so banana-tastic anymore, it's basically World War II's fault.
Twinkies were first invented in 1930 by one Jimmy Dewar, who saw that the baking company he worked for had equipment for finger cakes which were only used when it was time to make strawberry shortcakes for a limited, six-week window each year. (Strawberry shortcake is a delicious old-fashioned no-bake dessert, though, so points for that.) He figured that they could be repurposed for small, inexpensive snacks that could be sold at any time of year, and so he devised the familiar golden cake with a banana creme filling. (The name came to Dewar when he saw a sign advertising "Twinkle Toe Shoes.")
Banana rationing during World War II led to a change in the Twinkie formula (but you can still try them)
When the United States entered World War II, it dramatically shifted American society almost overnight. Just about every eligible man was sent overseas, women worked jobs they were never seen doing before, and rationing took effect, with everything from meat to fruit to bread slicing machines being repurposed for the war effort. (That's right — sliced bread was briefly banned in the U.S. during World War II.) Obviously, all those potassium-rich bananas couldn't be used for something so frivolous as a Twinkie, so they were repurposed with a vanilla creme filling, and it was so popular that it stuck around after the war was over.
Banana Twinkies were sometimes reintroduced for limited-time offers after the Great Vanilla-ing, with one particularly successful run being a promotion with the 2005 "King Kong" movie. (Do you get it? Because monkeys! And bananas!) During the promotion, Hostess' sales spiked 20 percent, so they figured it was worth keeping them around for a while longer. They're not as ubiquitous as vanilla Twinkies, and they're less than 2 percent banana, but you can still get your hands on some original-flavor Twinkies today.